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Rufius first spoke to me in 2004

RUFIUS isn’t my first attempt at novel writing, but it was a novel that scared me. Why? Because when I first heard Rufius’ voice (calling myself a novelist means I can dodge the men in white coats), I realised he was talking to me from ancient Rome. As schoolgirl Latin, Carry On Cleo and Gladiator were all I knew about ancient Rome, I tried to ignore his lisp chattering away at me. But Rufius is insistent, by Bacchus!

Ten years later, having infiltrated the Classics community, gate-crashed many an academic conference, the most memorable being ROMOSEXUALITYat Durham University, and made a lot of fascinating friends on the way, I can now say I know something about ancient Romans and the way they viewed their sexuality – which is very different to modern Western ideas.